TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Day 2: AI Dominates as Innovation and Investment Converge in San Francisco

San Francisco, CA – October 14, 2026 – Day two of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is in full swing at San Francisco’s Moscone West, marking a pivotal moment for the global technology and startup ecosystem. Building on the momentum of the event’s opening day, the second day is dedicated to exploring the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence, alongside a deep dive into the practicalities of building and scaling successful ventures. With over 10,000 founders, investors, and technology leaders in attendance, the conference offers an unparalleled platform for discovery, networking, and strategic foresight.

The heart of the innovation showcase lies within the expansive Expo Hall, a vibrant arena where over 300 startups and solution providers are presenting their groundbreaking products and services. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time, attendees have the opportunity to witness cutting-edge technologies in action, identify solutions that could propel their businesses forward, and engage directly with the visionary teams behind them. This immersive environment serves as a crucial nexus for forging potential partnerships, scouting promising investment opportunities, and benchmarking innovative approaches to industry challenges.

This year’s Disrupt is particularly notable for its concentrated focus on Artificial Intelligence, a sector that continues to redefine technological boundaries. Day 2’s agenda features a distinguished roster of speakers from industry titans and pioneering startups alike. Leaders from NVIDIA, Waabi, Flock Safety, and Ricursive Intelligence are slated to share their insights, offering a comprehensive view of AI’s multifaceted applications. The presence of Benchmark’s full partnership further underscores the event’s significance as a forum for venture capital and investment strategy, with discussions spanning robotics, AI hardware, public safety, and the intricate landscape of venture investment.

For those still considering their participation, a limited number of passes remain available, offering a significant discount from the original walk-up rate. The Expo+ Pass provides focused access to the Expo Hall for discovery and networking, while eligible conference passes unlock access to main stage sessions, interactive roundtables, and in-depth Q&A breakouts, enriching the overall experience.

Day 2 Highlights: A Deep Dive into AI and Entrepreneurship

The day officially commenced with registration and badge pick-up opening at 8 a.m., setting the stage for a packed schedule of keynotes, startup pitches, and networking sessions.

Expo Hall: A Crucible of Innovation

The Expo Hall, a sprawling hub of activity on Level 2, is open throughout the day, presenting attendees with a unique opportunity to explore a diverse array of emerging companies. Beyond the chance to discover new products and services, the hall facilitates direct interaction with founders and teams, fostering a deeper understanding of their vision and execution. This curated environment encourages attendees to venture beyond their immediate areas of interest, potentially uncovering unexpected synergies and groundbreaking opportunities.

Pitch Showcase Stage: The Art of the Pitch

The Pitch Showcase Stage is a dynamic arena where startups vie for attention through rapid-fire "enterprise fast pitches." This segment is designed to inspire and educate, offering a firsthand look at how founders articulate their value propositions and capture investor interest. Whether one is building a company, seeking investments, or part of a startup team, observing these pitches provides invaluable lessons in product communication and strategic positioning. The opportunity to connect with founders post-pitch further enhances the networking potential, opening doors for future collaborations.

Stage Sessions: Shaping the Future of Tech

With an eligible conference pass, attendees gain access to a wealth of knowledge shared across multiple stages, covering the latest trends, strategies, and technologies impacting the startup ecosystem. The full agenda, accessible online, provides detailed timings for all sessions.

Disrupt Stage: Visionary Perspectives

The Disrupt Stage is the epicenter for high-level discussions that inform business decisions, investment theses, and product strategies. Today’s programming features compelling conversations on critical industry topics.

• AI, Surveillance, and the Future of Public Safety: Garrett Langley, CEO of Flock Safety, is set to discuss the evolving role of AI in public safety, a topic of increasing relevance in urban environments.
• What We Believe Now: A significant panel featuring Benchmark’s full partnership—Jack Altman, Peter Fenton, Chetan Puttagunta, Everett Randle, and Eric Vishria—promises to offer profound insights into the firm’s current investment philosophy and market outlook.
• When AI Starts Designing Its Own Hardware: Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini from Ricursive Intelligence will delve into the complex and nascent field of AI designing its own hardware, a frontier in technological advancement.

Startup Battlefield 200: The Next Generation of Unicorns

The Startup Battlefield continues its rigorous competition, this year focusing on healthtech, life sciences, enterprise, and security sectors. Contenders are battling for a coveted spot in the finals and a significant $100,000 in equity-free funding. This stage is not only a platform for startups to gain exposure but also a valuable learning ground for attendees to observe how companies navigate investor scrutiny and how to effectively present their own innovations.

Builders Stage: The Mechanics of Growth

The Builders Stage is dedicated to the practicalities of funding and scaling startups. Founders can refine their strategies, investors can gain deeper insights into fundability criteria, and startup teams can better understand the drivers of growth.

• The Series A in 2027: Experts like Jahanvi Sardana from Index Ventures, Shailendra Singh from Peak XV, and Janelle Teng Wade from Bessemer Venture Partners will discuss the evolving landscape of Series A funding.
• How to Win When You’re Not Building AI: In an AI-dominated market, this session featuring Yuri Sagalov of General Catalyst, Shan Shan of Baillie Gifford, and Chris Yu of ALSO offers crucial advice for non-AI focused startups.
• Build Mode Live: Building From Zero to One: Juliana Di Simone (Forela), Arul Nigam (Circuit Breaker Labs), and Courtney Young (MyoGene Bio) will share their experiences in early-stage company building.
• Revealing AI Disruptors 60: What Can AI Do Next?: A panel including Parag Agrawal (Parallel Web Systems), Shay Grinfeld (Greenfield Partners), Anand Kannappan (Patronus), and Alberto Taiuti (Reactor) will explore the future capabilities of AI.
• The Real Tokenmaxxing: How the Best AI Companies Navigate a Multi-Model World: Mo Jomaa (Capital G) and Vipul Ved Prakash (Together AI) will discuss strategies for AI companies operating in a complex multi-model environment.
• Building the Next Generation of AI Giants: Jas Khaira from Blackstone N1 will share insights on constructing leading AI companies.
• The Zero-to-1K Playbook: How to Get Your First 1,000 Customers Without a Marketing Budget: Crystal Huang (GV), Grant Lee (Gamma), and Elia Wallen (Engine) will offer tactical advice for customer acquisition.
• So You’ve Got a Hit Product. How Does Your Company Do It Again?: Maddi Holman (Daring Ventures) and Filip Kaliszan (Verkada) will explore the challenges of sustained product success.
• Tamar Yehoshua, Chief Product and AI Officer, Atlassian: Tamar Yehoshua will join Maddi Holman and Filip Kaliszan for a discussion on product strategy.

Real World AI Stage: AI in the Physical Realm

This stage is dedicated to the practical integration of AI into physical products and environments. Sessions will highlight emerging markets, deployment challenges, and innovative applications, including live robot demonstrations.

• Building AI Systems When Failure Is Not an Option: Nathan Michael (Shield AI), Mikell Taylor (General Motors), and Raquel Urtasun (Waabi) will address the critical need for reliability in AI systems.
• Come, Meet Stretch. The Robot Built for Real Life, Not a Demo Reel: Aaron Edsinger of Hello Robot will showcase advancements in practical robotics.
• Robots Are Waiting for Their ChatGPT Moment. Here Is What Is Standing in the Way: Les Karpas from NVIDIA will discuss the factors influencing the next wave of robotic innovation.
• Operating at the Edge: How AI Works When the Cloud Doesn’t: Ali Agha (FieldAI), Michelle Lee (Medra), and Aidan Madigan-Curtis (Eclipse Ventures) will explore edge AI solutions.
• Launching AI’s Orbital Infrastructure: Experts from The Aerospace Corporation, Portal Space Systems, and Muon Space will discuss the development of AI in space.
• Humanoid Robots Have Arrived: Live and On Stage: Jonathan Hurst of Agility Robotics will present Digit, a humanoid robot.
• From Prototype to Production: Can it Scale in Reality?: Kevin Peterson (Bedrock Robotics) and Adrian Macneil (Foxglove) will discuss scaling robotic solutions.
• The Race to General-Purpose Robots with Skild AI: When AI Meets the Physical World: Varun Jain (SE Ventures) and Deepak Pathak (Skild AI) will explore the future of general-purpose robots.
• Can We Engineer Nature’s Comeback?: Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences will discuss AI’s role in ecological restoration.
• Why and How Every Company Will Build Its Own AI: Manos Koukoumidis (Oumi) and Matt Burns (Insight Media Group) will discuss the trend of in-house AI development.

AI Stage: The Frontier of Artificial Intelligence

The AI Stage delves into the most pressing issues and opportunities within the AI landscape, from security concerns to new business models.

• The Agent Security Problem Nobody Is Talking About: Gavriel Cohen (NanoCo) and Ric Smith (Okta) will address overlooked security vulnerabilities in AI agents.
• Rewriting SaaS: Why AI Breaks the Old Business Model: Cathy Gao (Sapphire Ventures), Aaron Jacobson (NEA), and Barr Moses (Monte Carlo) will analyze the disruption of traditional SaaS models by AI.
• Before You Let AI Do the Job, How Do You Know It Actually Can: Irene Solaiman of Hugging Face will provide insights on evaluating AI capabilities.
• The $63 Billion Case for Storagemaxxing Your AI Stack: Pinaki Mukherjee (Wasabi Technologies) and other experts will discuss the critical role of storage in AI infrastructure.
• What Comes After the Chatbot: Alexander Embiricos from OpenAI will offer a glimpse into the future of AI interaction.
• The GTM Engineer: How AI Created Tech’s Next Big Job Category: Kareem Amin (Clay) will discuss the emergence of the GTM Engineer role.
• Model Behavior: How Top Startups Get Real Value From AI Adoption: Cat de Jong (Anthropic), Grant Lee (Gamma), and Kareem Amin (Clay) will share best practices for AI adoption.
• Proxy, Host, Operator: Who Can Read Your Agent’s Prompts?: Richard Rizk (BLACKBOX AI) will explore the security implications of AI agents.
• Securing the AI Enterprise: Why the Cloud Just Got a Lot More Complicated: Katie Moussouris (Luta Security), Wendy Nather (Cybersecurity Veteran), and Rudy Mitra (AWS) will discuss enterprise AI security.
• The Enterprise Isn’t Broken. Your Assumptions About It Are: Arsalan Tavakoli (Databricks) will challenge conventional thinking about enterprise technology.

Breakout Sessions and Roundtables: Interactive Learning

Beyond the main stages, a series of focused breakout sessions and intimate roundtables offer attendees opportunities for deeper engagement and problem-solving. These sessions are designed for direct interaction, allowing participants to ask specific questions and gain tailored advice.

Breakout Sessions: Practical Guidance

• Building Then vs Now: A panel featuring Payal Kadakia (ClassPass), Dr. Rumman Chowdhury (Humane Intelligence), Cassie Kozyrkov (Kozyr), and Holly Ransom (Emergent) will discuss the evolution of building companies.
• Infrastructure at the Speed of Demand: Power and Freight Without the Wait: Kofi Asante (Bluecore Energy) and Kevin Damoa (Glæd) will address infrastructure challenges.
• Best Practices for Running a Successful Fundraise: From Preparation to Investor Engagement: Maggie Sin (Fidelity Private Shares), Bill Tai (HUT 8 Corp), and Robin Uata (Fidelity Private Shares) will offer fundraising advice.
• From Founder to Investor: The Next Act – What Happens After You Win?: Bruce Lee (Keebeck Wealth Management) and Abhi Tiwari (Blank Ventures) will discuss career transitions.
• Breaking Into Space: The AI Builder’s Opportunity: Experts from The Aerospace Corporation, Little Place Labs, and the United States Space Force will explore AI’s role in the space industry.
• Sovereign AI: Who Will Build the Infrastructure and Intelligence of the Next AI Economy?: Özgür Altun (Turkcell), Suresh Babu (Hewlett Packard Enterprise), and Bekir Polat (Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye) will discuss AI infrastructure sovereignty.
• Fundraising Mistakes That Will Kill Your Round, and How to Avoid Them: Dr. Irena King (Surgicure Technologies), Dr. Richard Munassi (Tampa Bay Wave), Ashley Paston (General Catalyst), and Emily Zhen (HealthQuest Capital) will provide cautionary advice.

Roundtables: Collaborative Discussions

The roundtables offer a more informal setting for small-group discussions on specific challenges and opportunities.

• What Comes After ChatGPT? AI for the Physical World: Jack Hidary (SandboxAQ) and Stacie Calad-Thomson (NVIDIA) will explore the future of AI beyond conversational interfaces.
• How Does Agentic AI Change Decision-Making?: Cassie Kozyrkov (Kozyr) will lead a discussion on the impact of agentic AI.
• When Frontier Models Are Not Enough: How to Make AI Capable of Breakthrough Scientific Discoveries: Piotr Byrski (Molecule.one) and Shane Lewin (Clockwork Bio) will discuss AI’s role in scientific discovery.
• Grow Like a Founder, Think Like a CFO: Balancing Growth and the P&L: Marshall Egger (Spacemilk) will offer financial management strategies.
• Agentic AI in the Enterprise: Separating Signal from Noise for GTM and Ops Leaders: Ankita Mehta (Databricks) will discuss practical applications of agentic AI in business.
• The $100 Billion Entry Fee: Can Anyone Still Compete in AI?: Harrison Rolfes (PitchBook) will analyze the competitive landscape in AI.
• FDE: The Best Commercial Motion in Enterprise Software You’ve Never Heard Of: Kevin Bai (Anthropic) will discuss a lesser-known enterprise software strategy.
• The Rise of SoCal Hard Tech: Why VCs and Founders Are Gravitating to Gundo: Drew Boyles (City of El Segundo) and Kevin Hawkins (New York Stock Exchange) will highlight the Southern California tech scene.
• “My Company Is a Rocket Ship.” What Comes After the Landing?: Vishal Kumar and Tushar Kumar (Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors) will discuss post-hypergrowth strategies.
• How to Land Your First Institutional Check (From the Person Who Writes Them): Aditi Maliwal (Upfront Ventures) will provide direct advice for founders.
• Relationship-Led GTM: Founder + Operator Perspective: Connie Koh (Vectors Capital) and George Mitri (2DaLoop) will discuss go-to-market strategies.
• Open-Weight Models and the New AI Stack: Mercedes Bent (Premise) and Vanessa Larco (Premise) will explore open-weight models.
• VC Insights for Founders: How to Raise Your First VC Round: Itamar Novick (Recursive Ventures) and Brian Sparkes (Silicon Valley Venture, Corp.) will guide founders through early-stage fundraising.
• Doing More with Less: Raising Venture Capital in an AI-first World – Helping Entrepreneurs Avoid the Pitfalls of Overcapitalization: Neil Sequeira (Defy.vc) will address efficient fundraising in the current market.

Networking Opportunities: Forging Connections

The Networking Lounge, powered by Signify Business Cash World Elite Mastercard® by Wells Fargo, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The TechCrunch Events app’s AI-powered matchmaking feature is instrumental in facilitating targeted meetings, enabling attendees to connect with potential customers, investors, collaborators, and peers based on their specific goals.

Founder / Investor-Only Networking Meetings

The Deal Flow Cafe offers a dedicated space for Founder and Investor Pass holders to conduct focused networking. This exclusive environment is designed to streamline deal-making and foster high-value interactions.

Investor-Only Session: StrictlyVC

For Investor Pass holders, StrictlyVC provides a curated program of conversations focused on IPOs, the evolving role of family offices in venture capital, and limited partner priorities. This session offers a unique opportunity for investors to share perspectives and build strategic relationships within the investment community.

• The New Rules of Going Public: Ryan Flanagan (ICR) will discuss the current IPO landscape.
• The New Power Players: How Family Offices Are Reshaping Venture Investing: Bruce K Lee (Keebeck Capital Management) and Dave Sachse (Family VC) will explore the growing influence of family offices.
• What Limited Partners Want Now: Amit Bhatti (Truebridge Capital) and Beezer Clarkson (LGT Capital Partners) will share insights into LP priorities.

Disrupt 2026 Side Events: Extending the Conversation

As the official programming at Moscone West concludes, a series of side events will continue the dialogue and networking opportunities in more informal settings. These events, hosted by various organizations, provide further avenues for connection beyond the conference venue.

• Ecosystem Mixer, hosted by Peak XV
• Liquid Assets, hosted by Augment and Mintz
• The Afterburn, hosted by Backblaze and Flamethrower

Attendees are encouraged to check individual event listings for entry requirements and to RSVP in advance.

Still Time to Join Disrupt 2026

With the conference continuing for another day, opportunities abound to discover influential companies, explore groundbreaking solutions, and forge meaningful connections. Day 2 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 has underscored the pervasive influence of AI across industries and the enduring spirit of innovation driving the startup world. Passes are still available at a 50% discount off the walk-up rate, offering a final chance to be part of this pivotal gathering of over 10,000 tech leaders.